


Admintale

by TaylorPixiedust



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Human, Character Insert, Gen, Genderbent Characters, High Fantasy, I've been writing this story for a while, I've only now come here, Just in case really, Queer Characters, Violence, Warnings May Change, warnings at the beginning of every chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:47:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26636827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaylorPixiedust/pseuds/TaylorPixiedust
Summary: In a multiverse of many planes and levels, some people are never supposed to meet. Yet, when those bridges are rebuilt, two mundane humans enter and change the course of Fate itself. Unfortunately for both of them, their presence is met with both hostility and hatred, as destroyer and protector alike seek to end their feeble existences. However, each has their own reason for allowing them to live. Though secretive of his understanding of the world, Error seems to believe that they hold a special place in their world, and even makes a deal for one of them to assist him. As for Ink, well, nobody will ever understand the inner machinations of his mind. Especially as a particularly powerful hitchhiker reforges his SOUL into a much more powerful force.Penelope Hutson, the younger of herself and her brother John, is left in the wake of her brother's path, her vision filled with the ashes of his tear through the multiverse, and is made to be one of two things. Either she becomes the hero that the story needed from the start, or she can follow his path and continue the wildfire.Various references are bound to be strewn throughout.
Relationships: Sans/Sans (Undertale)
Comments: 4





	1. The Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The events leading up to the merging of two planes, causing chaos and unburdened fear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a story I have written several times over in a few different places. Please do not go searching for artifacts of the original story.

He didn't think he would be breathing that fast, but damn did he need to run as quickly as he could with what was going on, especially when his friend was dying in his arms. Cerulean, with no idea what to do other than ask for help, ran with his friend carried by his swiftly fading hope to the New Home to ask the queen for assistance in healing the protector of the Multiverse, Ink. He had, after what Blueberry could only assume was a freak accident, been forcefully slammed into the universe nearly dead and with several fractures throughout his body, including several broken ribs and a gash that tore through his skull. He hadn't even noticed the hot tears rolling down his face as he blew by the unsuspecting monsters and attendants, but the queen was soon made aware of the sobbing male that she had come to care for in years past. Her guard's vice leader had done enough that she had said that she would gladly give her blessing to his marriage if he were ever to have one.

Helping his friend was the least she could do, but she wasn't sure how with all of the blood seeping out of his injuries. It was bleeding into his clothing, most of which was tattered, with bits of broken glass throughout some of the fabric, with paint stains lining the middle of his chest as if they were a rainbow slash littering a corpse. She hadn't even seen his giant paintbrush, which was left at where he was dumped due to its size and splintering of the ground around him, leaving shards of wood painting the already marred canvas of a cadaver. He looked like an art project of a suffering student looking for some form of vengeance and repent from a grave mistake, and had decided that the only way was violence.

Even as Cerulean came to a halt before her and her close attendants took the dying body onto a cot, the only expression that she held was overwhelming terror and dread. She had seen Ink before, only once or twice, but he was important to the multiverse in a myriad of ways. He was its defender, its protector, its firewall from the destroyer, Error, that saw them as anomalies and sought to destroy them, as careless as he was, and they had been safe thus far. However, if he dies now, it may be the end of their lives, and it would be better to resuscitate than mourn.

Once the burden in his arms had been relieved from him, he sat down against the cot and continued allowing his tears to fall, his body in whole having become sore, and his fear causing his heart to nearly burst out of its confinement. However, he knew not time to rest, as help was needed at the current moment, and he only knew a few people to call. Without hesitation, he pulled out his cell phone and began the process of calling the only person he knew for certain was able to help.

Meanwhile, the queen had wobbled into another room to request assistance from Pike, Cerulean's brother. Despite his lack of knowledge of healing, he may be able to provide enough support to his brother to ensure his sanity. Despite her hurried dialing of his phone number, he pushed her phone downwards to detract her attention from it, and to bring it up to him.

"What's the situation?" he asked, only to understand once a particularly loud sob from his brother echoed through the chamber, "Ah. Shit."

As a deafening tone made its way from his phone's speaker, he understood what had happened, and ran over to not only comfort him, but also to see the status of Ink, and if he could tell whether or not he'd make it. Yet, their laying in wait gave no semblance of attention to the slight twitch of the male's index finger, though slight.

Trapped within his own mind, he looked around for an escape, banging at every wall he came across, trying to understand what being thought it had the right to punish him for everything he's done. No cracks in the foundation formed, seeming to tell him that this wasn't his own mind, since he had already been shattered mentally for several years, and he was forced to back up and take a more patient approach.

He gazed tentatively at his hands, gloved as they may be, as they became more transparent in the void of black, and his attention was zapped from his surroundings and put entirely on this one aspect of the situation. His eyes widened, and pupils shrank at the sight of what he believed was a sign of his demise, but felt no emotions to go along with the feeling of desperation. Now wasn't a fight for being afraid, happy, sad or anything. It was a fight for survival. Yet, as he reached for his paints, he hardly noticed the white light that broke through the gloom. Though, when his attention was finally ripped from it, he rose from his sitting position.

A figure bathed in light appeared from the darkness, partially blinding Ink from the ensuing change in brightness, and stepped forwards, revealing themselves to him. Opening his eyes was difficult, though he was soon rewarded, as he saw the familiar face of an ally. Despite this, he dare not speak in her presence, as her appearance itself was a blessing to all who she came to. An arm was placed in front of his eyes to shield them, but the light soon faded, as an object reminiscing a coin was tossed to his feet.

"I offer a boon in your era of need. You have proven yourself to me time and time again. I pray only that you consider it," she told him, and disappeared in a flash of light, leaving only a crystal butterfly in her wake. Her purpose fulfilled, he knew not of her plans, though glanced at the coin as it flashed different colors.

He felt his hand being squeezed suddenly, and he looked over to see a ghostly blue hand grasping it, mirroring Cerulean's actions as he attempted to resuscitate the male on the cot. Before long, he was ripped away, kicking and screaming for his friend to wake up, or for somebody, _anybody,_ would help him. His brother stood in horror as he had to be sedated to be calmed, and his phone was taken out of his pocket to call his partner.

Pike looked down at Ink, whose hand had once again began twitching as he considered the coin, which seemed to slowly be turning red with the transparency of not only his hands, but the rest of his body as well. Ink had little time to choose what to do, but understood the consequences of one choice. The other was unclear to him, but the saturation of the red seemed to be a clue of what was to come.

It was life or death, and it was all in his hands to make that choice for everybody. Not just himself.

"...I have to."

With that, the sedation of Cerulean was no longer able to stop the fear that coursed through everybody's veins.

Ink had disappeared, with only a heart-topped vial left of his presence

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Unsurprisingly, the several universes that they had entered in their search for refuge soon fell prey to the destroyer that Ink had sought to keep at bay. His disappearance gave him the freedom to strike as he so desired, giving the population a feeling of immense dread and fear, rather than the safety granted by the artist. Though there were many opportunities to destroy universes on their lonesome, he seemed to be taking out anybody he deemed to be a target - being close to Ink in any way, shape, or form. Many who had been either fled to the Omega Timeline or got destroyed in their attempts to escape. Calling for Dream no longer was an option for Cerulean, and with his long-term partner and guard as his only solace, he fled as well as he could. The path to the realm of safety others had taken was lost to him, as he had never used or needed it, but the time had come for him to perhaps learn it. However, the world is a fickle mistress, and refuses his pleas. Thus, he flees as best he can.

Holed up in the empty shell of a house, the duo boarded up the windows and exits to better prevent Error spotting them as they sat against the wall fearing for their existences. Cerulean grasped for his boyfriend's hand as he allowed tears to trail down his face silently, and found solace when a red-clad appendage made its way to meet his. His head leaned over to glance at Sawyer as he took time to contemplate his next actions against the destroyer, his stare boring into the wall opposite of him. His past as the leader of the Royal Guard, and a born and raised assassin told him that killing him was the only option, but the balance seemed to be important to the functioning of this world. Even with his hesitance, he understood what his instinct told him, and unhooked his pistol from its place on his belt. Blueberry was alerted by this, and broke out of his stupor to stand up alongside him.

"Are you sure that's even going to work?" Cerulean asked before placing a gloved hand onto his shoulder, "Red Bean, I love you, but I don't know if he can be killed with guns alone." He looked at his partner with earnest and placed it back into its holster to comfort him. He pulled him into a hug to provide him with some much-needed warmth and solace from the tears that plagued him, but reached into what seemed to be a void whilst his arms were around him.

"I know," he told him, "We need to buy ourselves time for help. If we can't kill him, we may as well distract him. Cut the strings, piss him off. Whatever works." With that, he pulled out a black satchel lined with silver thread and handed it to the male before him, who took it knowing exactly what it was. He pulled the end of fishing line that was available and brought out the sash of throwing stars that they had made out of boredom at some point. The tears wiped from his eyes and a smile spreading onto his face, he glanced up just as Sawyer had placed his lips onto the top of his head.

"I love you." Cerulean scratched the top of Sawyer's head, earning a chuckle.

"I love you too, Ceru."

Their affection was cut off by a scream piercing through the skies, and Sawyer immediately became ready to face the horrors of what the destroyer could really do. The two ran towards the window to examine the situation, and found the rest of the town already falling into shambles. Somebody had already been caught up in strings, and was attacking others, causing the screams of terror ringing through the city. Without a shred of hesitance, and an inhuman steadiness, Sawyer brought out his pistol to shatter the glass of the window before taking aim to fire at the strings containing the citizen's SOUL. Cerulean put the ear plugs that he had been given weeks prior into his ears as he fired to cut the string, freeing them from Error's control, but alerting him to another presence. His eyes followed the trail of broken glass to the window as others he had captured began doing what he had instructed them to. Cerulean hid in another room as Sawyer's eye changed from its mostly normal appearance to a grey backdrop surrounding a red point for accuracy. Both for purposes of comfort and for later use, he took off his glove, exposing some of the intricate machinery that made him up. The clockworks ran through his fingers and hands as they would a complex golem, and as Error approached the house to investigate, he fired another bullet out of the window, not only as warning, but as another piece of ammunition to cut down a citizen.

At this moment, Error knew exactly who it was, and growled as his strings tore away the boards blocking the window. His blind rage sent several more into the ground where Sawyer would have been if his back handspring hadn't propelled him towards the wall. A blaster was fitted into the window, and was barely dodged with a swift dive into another room. Though, it dissolved most of the remaining boards, giving them a way of escape should it prove necessary. Cerulean had already began cutting others down from their binds with his less accurate, but still helpful, aim at others below, accidentally causing some collateral damage to bystanders. With an annoyed grunt, Error mumbled "fine then," before exiting the frame of the window, leaving the scorch marks on the walls as they were. Sawyer ensured that he had several magazines ready for any fight that would come at them, but he wasn't ready for the most extreme change of pace.

Strings made their way across the foundation of the house, and caused Cerulean to go sprinting for the upper level of the house, Sawyer close behind. As he had predicted only moments before, the house was torn away from the ground and swiftly being elevated, taking only some of the floor with it. More strings broke into the home through other avenues, giving them less and less room to work with until they'd eventually get caught up in it.

However, in a manner intending to oppose what Fate apparently had planned for them, Sawyer took his partner into his arms and sprinted towards the fully opened window.

And, as Death watched, laying in wait for his job to be given an opportunity, he jumped out of the window, forcing them to fall at what would have been terminal velocity towards the ground.

He turned and fired a shot directly at Error as they fell, but, before the bullet had even gone through the Destroyer's shoulder, the duo had been forcibly teleported to the ground and separated. Cerulean took refuge behind a barricade as Sawyer stood out in the open, waiting to provide a distraction for when his rage was being redirected. As if on cue, he turned to face Cerulean clutching his wound, which glitched in and out of existence as his health itself fluctuated. Though, as more and more ERROR symbols filled his vision, Sawyer loudly whistled for his attention, removing most of them from his vision for a brief moment before he ran into the building that was behind him.

Cerulean watched in awe as his partner evaded capture with a grace that he hadn't truly seen yet, as he was no enemy to the male. Strings pierced the building like a twisted magic show, but the one performing the trick hadn't quite registered that there would be no way to truly fulfil his murderous desire. He tried his best with the limited knowledge of Sawyer's position that he had, but soon gave up entirely on the search for the gunslinger, in turn searching for the blue-clad annoyance he had actually seen with Ink many times before.

With the limited amount of barricades possible in the area, all he had to do was blaze them down one by one until he found the right one. However, his first guess seemed to be rather lucky, as it immediately cast Cerulean out from behind it and into the open, right into the determined path of another blaster. A wide, toothy grin spread over his face as Sawyer came out of the building to take the blast for his partner, shielding him from most of the damage.

However, he soon found that action unnecessary.

Before them stood a silhouette of a man taller than anybody either of them had befriended, their siblings not counting into that observation, and with wings of gold spread in a defensive manner, but another force seeming to block the blast entirely. And when the attack ceased, Error seemed shocked with who he saw.

"So, Justice Reigns finally got the distress signal?" Cerulean commented, causing the male before them to turn his head and smile at them, "Oh, for fuck's sake." The painted golden wings fell to the ground unceremoniously as the ink-stained face turned to face Error with fervor. The destroyer became enraged with this appearance, and took up the strongest arms available to him for the impending death battle.

_**"IIIIIINNNNKKKK!!!!"** _

A smirk made its way across his face as his identity was revealed, and jumped up to face his foe in a short-lived battle. A knife was suddenly materialized into his hand, and grazed Error ever so slightly across the chest. That one blow alone somehow cast the destroyer across the city and into the surrounding forest, shocking those who watched him. He then turned to face Cerulean, who was more upset than happy that he was back.

"What?" Ink asked with a knowing grin, launching Cerulean into a fit of anger.

"What do you mean, 'what?' You can't just disappear for two months, reappear masquerading as Angel Boy-" Ink cut him off.

"-actually, it's Angel _Bitch_ -"

"WHATEVER. You can't just do that after disappearing for two months!!"

"Then what did I just do?" Ink asked, enraging Sawyer enough for him to lurch forwards and punch Ink in the face, "I deserved that."

"What even happened?!" Ink shrugged and tapped his chest, revealing a bright crimson heart floating out of the depths, causing unrestrained fear.

"My reaction exactly. I was dying, and I guess God said 'no' and gave me this thing. I have no idea man. Ask Reaper when you can. Dream should pick you up to go to the Omega Timeline. I might go kill Error."

"I'm sorry," Sawyer interjected, "but you _might_ kill him?" Ink turned to face the construct as Dream appeared from a portal of light to usher the two to safety.

"Eh. I woke up like fifteen minutes ago, ate a peach, I think it was a peach, got bored, and came here. I might depending on my mood when I get there. Anyways. Y'all have fun at the Omega Timeline!" With that, he disappeared to take a gander at Error, who had sat up against a tree. He was gasping for air due to his utter and complete shock, and tried to search for anything to give him some semblance of balance. However, his tranquility was interrupted by a poof reminiscing of somebody teleporting

He jumped at Ink's sudden appearance, and shrieked as his eyes became red and pointed. Error shut his eyes and held his fists in front of his face to give himself some form of protection.

"Hi!" he shouted with a wicked smile, and threw a knife into the tree he was up against, right next to his head. Ink seemed disappointed with his aim as Error opened his eyes, saw that he had failed hilariously, and fled into what he assumed to be the anti-void. He pulled the knife out of the tree with ease before flipping it in his hand and wandering off to go back to the Doodlesphere.

Meanwhile, Error somehow managed to appear in the place opposite of where he wanted to be, and hid in a bush to facilitate his panic attack. Despite his desire to be in a familiar place at this point in time, he knew exactly where he was. There was a plane outside of their own multiverse that held nothing but humans. He and Scires managed to find it on complete accident during an experiment gone wrong. Being spared led to a truce between the duo, and later a commission, to find a different way around the multiverse. Something more discreet. Thus, they made switches for transport, and, when calibrating them, they accidentally found this place.

With baited breath, he sought refuge by transporting himself through an open window.

John hummed to the song that was playing through his headphones, not paying much attention to what was going on around his sister's room, especially considering that she was away with her class on a community service trip. He fully expected her to be gone for the rest of the two-week period, especially considering her rocky situation with their parents.

So, when he looked over to find the previously closed door to be slightly cracked open, he dove into his room to grab a weapon for intruder apprehension. Error had already seen him typing something out on his computer, but set up an ambush for if and when he tried to search the room. Besides, that ambush may provide him with what he needs.

John edged out of his room, tactical khopesh in hand, and slowly made his way towards the room. Error stood out of the doorway to provide himself with cover if necessary, and prepared himself for anything, including the door opening. The hairs on the back of his neck were raised, and he silently growled at the human awaiting him as he grabbed a pen off of his sister's desk. As it was launched into the room, Error immediately caught it in a web of string, not understanding at first what he had just caught.

"What?" he mumbled, not fully prepared for assault via khopesh. The pommel was jabbed into his sternum, sending him reeling hard enough that the slash that came right for his head barely missed. His eyes widened as the green-eyed male glared at him with a fury he did not expect, and he proceeded to slash again, this time upwards towards his shoulder. This time, he barely managed to sidestep the slash, and gathered his bearings enough to finally make an attempt to capture the human.

The first string was a test of reflex to see if they would even be bothered, and they certainly were, as they immediately cut it down and advanced at Error, who tripped over the bed that was behind him, falling onto it, and almost causing the human to cut through the mattress. However, he barely stopped his momentum before hitting it, cutting only the sheets that lay above the exposed bedding. Suddenly, Error smirked, and grabbed the khopesh with a string, holding it to the ceiling, and taking the human with it. The strap attached to it was wrapped around the human's wrist, and gave him no hope of completely separating them. However, Error could now freely capture the human, forcing them into a widened stance and giving them no freedom of movement. Error's grin widened as they struggled in their bonds, and were the first to speak between the two.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked, "And what do you even want?" Error's grin faded as he thought about his actions, and he was soon scratching his head in thought.

"Honestly? I didn't think I'd get this far," he admitted, earning a look of disbelief, "Look. I almost just died a few minutes ago, and my brain told me that houses are usually safe. But then you show up trying to stab me or whatever, and the only way I can respond is by fighting back." John shook his head.

"If you're trying to think of master plans, go into it knowing what you're doing, just in case? Legitimately, if you were any less reactive when I tried to hit you, you'd be on the floor bleeding to death." Error laughed in his face.

"Death avoids me of its own will. It knows it won't be able to deal with my shit."

"So what are you here for? You don't have a mask, so I'm guessing you're not here to rob the place. Did you just want to like, murder somebody, or?"

"No, no, that would actually make things worse for myself. See, there's laws in the multiverse, and if I kill you, the people in charge _will_ find me and kill me, no matter what it takes. So I'm not going near that mess," he explained, which only confused John more, "Are you a fan of evil schemes?" John made a motion alike to jazz hands, and didn't even let Error explain the evil schemes.

"Multiverse??" 

"I'm not explaining. You won't understand. I've been living in that knowledge my whole life and even I'm confused. Do you like evil schemes?"

"I - I mean, maybe? Depends on the scheme?" Error grinned, a plot forming in his head.

"Perfect. See, I have this little shit of an arch nemesis -"

"Why don't you just kill him?"

"I was getting to that - He's functionally immortal because he's basically creativity incarnate. It's rough explaining, so I won't. Anyways. I want to get him out of the way so that I can finally do what I was born to do."

"And that is destroying stuff? I guess?"

"Exactly!!" John went deadpan.

"What."

"It just got a lot harder because _SOMETHING_ happened, and some sick God gave him more power. A lot more power. So I need help, and that's where you come in."

"It sounds like I'm an anime protagonist. Speaking of anime, please get me down from here, or I will start making jokes that may get me killed." Error rolled his eyes and unclenched his fist, dropping the male to the ground, khopesh and all.

"So. Who are you?" John put his hands on his hips, firmly grasping his khopesh just in case.

"John Hutson. As for you, Mr. Terrifying?" Error seemed a bit intimidated by what he perceived as formality, and scratched the back of his head.

"...Ergion." John glared at him.

"What the fuck kind of name is that?"

Error placed two fingers at the bridge of his nose and asked a question, "Do I look like from I'm around here?" John sighed and shook his head. Taking this as his acknowledgement, Error gave him a disappointed look.

"Just call me Error. Everybody else does, and I'm frankly going to stick to that."

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Penelope clutched her messenger bag to ensure that no noise was made as she approached the house, as any noise would likely cause the alarms to go off, and approached the window to her bedroom, which was opened for convenience and the plan to get her inside. She sent the message she had already typed up to John, who was having a swift discussion with Error about the next phases of their plan. He noticed the message that was sent, and tip-toed to her room to get her in. Once a rope made from bedsheets was tossed over the wall, Penelope grabbed on and scaled the brick wall to meet her brother. He smiled as she came to meet his eyes, and he offered his arm to lift her into it the rest of the way. She gladly accepted, and was lifted onto her mattress from outside without so much as a peep before her window was closed.

"What did you get this time?" he asked, and she took out her raid from the nearby drugstore. They weren't thieves, but their parents would be pissed should she be out past six o'clock. Frankly, he saw it as unfair, but they made the rules since it's their house. All she had purchased was a few glass bottles of apple juice - the good stuff - and a pint of maple ice cream. He lifted the pint with glee and ran to put it in the freezer downstairs. As he did that, she took two of the bottles to put in the minifridge he had in his room. And as she pushed the door open to enter, she was surprised to see another human being in the room. A man with dark skin, hair, and eyes, stared at her, with what seemed to be glitches in reality and several lines of text displaying the word 'ERROR' floating around his figure and shifting ever so often. She was floored.

"Uh..." she began, backing away slowly as he stood, "John???" As if on cue, her brother came rushing up the stairs and waving off Error with fervor. 

"No, no, no, no!! She's okay!!" he told her, pushing his sister into the room with the two of them, "Error. This is my sister. Penelope, this is my new friend. We, uh, met, over the past week or so you were gone. Time is confusing." Penelope leaned away from Error, who went on the offensive in the form of growling lowly.

"Sounds like one of your friends," she retorted, catching the male off guard and halting his growl.

"He's going to get us out of here. We were just working out the details!" Her gaze became softer as Error crossed his arms in the general direction of the male.

"Your brother here is going to help me with some business, and, in return, I'll relocate you two. The least I can do for the help he's been giving me." Penelope took her turn to puff up her chest, as tiny as she was, and start asking questions.

"Are you hurting him?" she asked, earning a swift shake of his head, "Then what are you doing with him?" He walked over to a pile of jackets on the floor near his closet and pulled out what looked like a sash of buttons.

"These," John began, gesturing with the buttons, "transport whoever presses it to a different world. Each one corresponds with a different realm. When you press it again, it usually takes you back. Sometimes, it doesn't want to, but those glitches are few and far in between. There's a bunch of these worlds, and we're going through them and searching for somebody specific." Error nodded as he explained, proving what he was saying. However, what Penelope didn't expect was to receive the sash itself.

"They come into my room a lot, so I want you to take this and hide it so that they don't find it and get themselves lost, or, worse, hurt. I know you hate them, but it would not be a fun way to go, especially if one of these goes missing." Error grabbed his hood from behind and pulled him towards a glitching portal.

"We have to go. Don't get yourself killed, kid," he advised as he dragged John into the disk.

"I love you!!" he shouted as his existence petered out, leaving Penelope a confused mess, holding the sash carefully in her hands.

"...I love you too..." she mumbled before setting the apple juice down on his bed for when he returns. She then turned and walked towards her room, knowing her curiosity would most certainly overtake her at some point soon.


	2. Carried through Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penelope comes face-to-face with a new reality, two new acquaintances, and a realization of the situation at hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a mention of needles in this chapter.

Despite her readiness to enter a new reality, Penelope expected to be thrown into a whirlpool of danger and dread. However, the feeling of nausea that she was not ready for swept over her as reality itself seemed to bend in half at the seam. Her eyes widened, and her gaze rapidly shifted as the floor shattered like glass and pit her against a new realm like an animal entering captivity. She struggled to prevent herself from folding over herself to empty what was present within her digestive system, but as quickly as she understood that this feeling was present, it faded, and she was greeted by a void of an orangey pink fading into black as what was beneath her gave out. After that experience, she thought she was ready for whatever realm would greet her on the other side.

What Penelope was absolutely not ready for upon her entrance to this new world was to be assaulted from her feet and up to her ankles by snow. She jumped suddenly in an attempt to get away from it, wincing from the biting cold, and pressed the button again, trying to return home. Fortunately, her prayers were answered, and the solace of her warm room was accepted with little grace, and an indulgent amount of blankets being applied to her flash-frozen feet. Despite knowing what snow felt like, she did not expect to have it be barely below her shins. Much more prepared for the harsh winters of the new environment, she equipped a somewhat small black hoodie and the sneakers that were the best snow-equipped. Meaning her only pair of sneakers. All that she had to do was press the switch and wait for reality to push her inside-out once more, and regain her sanity.

It was as she had felt before, the world shaking her wildly and spitting her out into another edge of the realm, with one major change. Somebody was looking at her and, once realizing what had just happened, screaming, since she had just appeared out of thin air. Penelope looked up to face them, and also began screaming, as they looked as if they were about to assault her with what looked like a heavy broadsword and take her to be burned at the stake for witchery. Instead, however, she stopped, stuttered for a moment, and looked around for anything that could be of use, only to find nothing, and place her gloved hands on Penelope's shoulders. She flinched away from the sudden contact, shifting away as soon as she could, but the one before her seemed to gently come forwards to comfort her.

"Are you okay??" she asked. Penelope's shoulders slumped, her visage of fear softened, and she raised an eyebrow at her looming companion. They stood up straight and brought their hand to the back of their head to scratch in contemplation, but soon dropped it in favor of padding their knees as they crouched to Penelope's height from their towering stance.

"You appeared out of nowhere, and I know for a fact that jeans are not winter wear!" they told her not long before picking her up by the waist and hoisting her atop their shoulder with a smile, "Let's get you somewhere warm!" Confused as to what just happened, Penelope thrashed around a bit, alerting the carrier to her stress. Instead of shunting her to the ground, she was instead greeted with a noise of concern and a pat applied to her back.

"Would it be better if I introduced myself?" they asked, and Penelope cleared her throat to reply, causing a fit of sputtering due to the cold. Thus, she felt her mode of transport halt for a moment to set her down on a cleared part of the path through what Penelope finally realized as a forest of pine trees and wilting oaks. She lay down for around a minute to allow her airways to clear for a moment, watching has her guardian knelt down to assist if needed. She noticed a gloved hand reaching down to her from the other's colossal height as her fit drew to a close, but the smile that they held wrote nothing but a faint sense of trust into Penelope's brain. Thus, she took the hand and allowed herself to be tugged to her feet, still not giving them enough faith to put her guard down.

"I'm Phyrra. You don't need to speak until you're somewhere that the cold won't take one of your toes off. Conserving body heat and all of that. Don't worry about me, I do this every week at least!" That last comment left a lasting sense of confusion and worry upon Penelope, but there was no real way for her to object to her carrier's ramblings, especially as she was lifted back up onto her shoulder and hoisted through the forest.

Clari sat dragging her thumb across her phone screen, tapping on pictures of her friends in order to add them to a collection to look at and smile. After a while of saving up money to pay for various expenses, her lover had finally earned enough to cover herself for at least the next year, and quit her second job to spend some time getting to know her friends. A soft, inaudible sigh escaped her as she came upon a picture of Cerulean and Pike meeting them for the first time, and she was glad to see from the caption that it went well. After all, the duo were quite amicable, but a bit intimidating to an outsider. Despite everything, apparently their trip to the local pub was quite fun, and Clari saved the picture as she had intended to, a pink blush running across her cheeks.

"CLARI!" Phyrra yelled from the cleared path, almost causing the named female to lose track of her phone. However, as it dropped, she managed to use enough force of will to keep it from falling into the snow. It glowed with a blue sheen as she lifted it from its spot barely above the ground and to her pocket, guiding it with her naked hand into the pouch. She then stood up, careful not to get snow into her sneakers, and walked over to her sister, who was carrying an extra burden on her shoulders. Her poor eyesight due to her lack of glasses or contacts betrayed her, as she couldn't quite make out what it was more than possibly a sack of potatoes.

"Hey, what's with the sack?" she asked, slowly getting the black object more into focus as she advanced, but Phyrra seemed offended that she called whatever it was a sack. It seemed to move slightly, and what looked like an arm made itself visible from the backdrop of the black jacket. Clari scrunched up slightly, unsure of what to make of the situation as Phyrra put a hand on her hip to display her discontent.

"The human is not a sack!" she yelled, earning a muffled groan from underneath what she could finally make out as a hood as it was moved up and away from a face, showing the female that lay underneath it, basking in what limited warmth it gave her. The blue-clad sibling that was watching them hissed inaudibly as her face peeked out from the shadows.

"Correction; I _am_ a sad sack of a human being," Penelope told Phyrra, who was not happy at all with this development, and looked over to Clari, who, in contrast to her sister's friendly sort of frustration, immediately became aggressive. She formed a glare with her eyelids and became ready to fight the human, taking a defensive stance as her eyes became a bright cyan color, but it didn't last long. Phyrra gathered her bearings and turned to face her sister, whose stance slacked as the spotlight was shifted to her. Penelope put her head back down and sat there with widened eyes, nearly having a panic attack.

"No matter! We're going to the house. Clari, would you mind unlocking the door and preparing a cup of hot tea? I don't want the human freezing out here," she requested, earning herself a nod and a sigh before she disappeared into the aether as a shortcut. After seeing everything that just happened, Penelope did her best to gulp her anxieties back down her throat, and brought her hood back down to cover her head as Phyrra continued trotting down the path towards town, humming a tune quietly to fill in the dead air.

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Penelope sat in front of the hearth, her mug of tea sat on a coaster a few feet away to cool down as the fire raged in front of her. A light blanket had been placed over her form as Phyrra calmly came down the steps in much more comfortable clothes than whatever armor she was wearing earlier. In contrast, Clari came out of the kitchen still wearing her light blue jacket, only having exchanged her sneakers for pink slippers for in-house wear. She felt somewhat comforted by the hospitality, but she soon felt uncomfortable with the glare being lasered into her back by Clari. Her hand grasped the countertop as her nails dug into its surface, but her face reverted to one of kindness as Phyrra looked over. Once she passed, however, the glare returned, and with it, Penelope's utter discomfort.

Clari began approaching, and Penelope knew not where to go as her eyes glowed their light cyan, and the area around her became much more cold. However, she stopped when the fire suddenly went out, and rushed over to light it once more with a box of matches that sat on a stand on the other side of the room. While her attention was away, Penelope rose from her blanket prison to go upstairs to use the restroom. Clari soon noticed the creaking of the stairs, and made certain that she actually found the right room, and she found the cracked door easily.

The door swung open slowly as she pressed against it, and she was immediately thrown backwards with a wave of nausea. Clari saw her stumble backwards, and used the aether once more to give her a swift way upstairs to catch her fall. Easing her onto the banister to make sure she didn't hit her head, Clari glanced at her line of sight to see what was worrying her enough for the dizzy spell. Her eyes were staring at the red bin near the opposite wall, and her pupils were more shrunken down than her stance. Despite her dislike of the human, Clari interrupted her line of sight by placing herself in between the red box and herself, giving her a slight reassurance with a small smile. 

"What is that?" she asked, pointing towards it, and Clari looked back at it, somewhat upset, but still willing to explain with a sigh.

"It's a sharps box. It's the easiest way for me to take some of my medications," she explained, helping Penelope loosen her muscles, "You'll be fine. We keep it sanitary. Just don't stick your hands in it. There's a biohazard sticker on there for a reason." She helped Penelope stand, though shakily, slowly lifting her up, and making sure her legs were straightening. Her grasp on Penelope's hand slipped slightly as she lifted, as it had become slick from the sweat that she had broken into. Penelope shook nervously as Clari smiled down at her, and took deep breaths as she held onto the banister to balance herself, with her calves quaking and forcing her to take even more time to get herself ready to walk into the bathroom. A hand reached up to pat her head, and Penelope gave Clari a smile of reassurance. As she allowed Penelope into the bathroom, Clari pulled her phone out to glance at the pictures she had saved onto the device itself to compare a face she had seen before.

The photo she had been sent was quite the resemblance, but the description given by the sender was much more negative than anything that Penelope had shown before. Especially as she glanced at the banister, still somewhat moistened with the sweat from her palms. So far, nothing was true, even in the slightest, but surely...

Clari looked down at the photo of a smiling pair of siblings and glared.

Surely somebody wouldn't lie about something so intimate.

Right?

Her concentration was broken as Penelope walked out, Clari not having noticed what she had done, however noticed that the edges of her sweatshirt's sleeves were wetted with the water from the sink. However, knowing her previous state, Clari grabbed her gently to guide her down the stairs.

"You should take that off. I know you were sweating earlier, so that thing probably isn't going to help much," she informed Penelope, who seemed annoyed at the prospect, but obliged, revealing a loose-fitting long sleeved shirt with a spirally flower design in black on top of a dark gray. It wasn't the most helpful article of clothing to have when you're sweating, but progress was being made.

She stepped carefully down the stairs to retreat to her personal tea area, Clari following close behind, and sat down in front of her mug to take a sip and gauge its temperature. It was still quite warm, but she still sipped from the mug quietly as Clari made her way around the area. Eventually, once surveying the area, she sat down in front of Penelope, and gave a small smile. She glanced over her shoulder to a countertop where an open envelope lay in wait for its necessity. However, Clari dragged the contents out of it once spotting them from across the room, and they floated towards her in a swift, yet focused motion. Penelope's eyes trained on the object, which was soon placed in front of her.

"You're John's sister, right?" she asked, with Penelope responding with a characteristic anxious expression, filled with scrunched eyebrows and shrinking form, "You don't have to worry. You seem like a good kid when you look at it from outside of bias." The human before her looked up to Clari, seeing the blue light in her eyes dissipate as the photo that was folded underneath the letter became visible, depicting Penelope standing in close proximity to John. She reached out and picked up the photo, seeming to remember where it was taken.

As images flashed in her head about the last day of peace she had, she glanced away from Clari, whose eyes watched her movements like a sentinel. Penelope let the paper drift to the ground as she shakily set down her mug on the coaster, crossing her legs and glancing up at Clari from her folding posture. Their eyes met, Penelope seeing her knowledge and power, and Clari seeing the pain and stress in her life.

Clari reached out, giving Penelope her slightly cold, but still comforting hand. She hesitated, but sighed as her pale, still moistened, hand made its way into Clari's as her smile became much more somber.

"You're not alone. They can't hurt you while you're here. I promise," she told Penelope, earning a brief smile.

"Thank you." Her voice cracked as the dam finally broke, and she laid down to prevent herself from crying as much as possible, but Clari simply decided to move over to her side and lay down with her. Phyrra walked out of the kitchen to see what was happening, and joined the duo at the other side of Penelope's head. With minor difficulties due to her height and the stairwell, she was also able to lie on the floor and feel like garbage.

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The boots that Phyrra had gifted her worked much better in the snowy environment than the sneakers that she had put into a bag for carrying purposes, and Clari took her out through the town on a walk so that they could better speak about what Clari believed to be an abnormality in the timeline, along with clearing up the information John had given her. The biting cold was less effective against Clari, and she had given her jacket to Penelope to prevent her from freezing over again. With crunching snow no longer impeding her movement, Penelope was able to easily keep up with Clari as she guided her through the town.

She looked up at Clari, trying to read her expression, but her silent smile was more unnerving than helpful, so she decided to stop gawking at her and continue following closely behind her as she thought of what to say to her. Finally, something clicked within her, and she halted in her tracks, causing Penelope to bump into her back.

"Sorry," she told her, but the apology was cast aside in favor of a question.

"How did you get here?" she asked, causing some fear and confusion within Penelope, "I know that John used the switches to get around, but did he give those to you? Or is there something else going on?" Penelope brought out the button that she had used to enter into the realm and presented it to Clari. She took it into her hands, careful not to press the button, and studied it. There was no doubt that Scires had something to do with it, since his faint craftmanship's mark on the back was present, but her mind couldn't fathom how they worked. It'd be a question for another day.

"These things are fickle from what I've heard, but I don't know exactly how they work, so I'm not of much help to you," she told her. A hand reached out to retrieve the switch, and Clari unceremoniously dropped it back into Penelope's hand. She stowed it away in her pocket as Clari glanced over her shoulder to see how densely populated the town was, and, seeing that it was quieter than most days, she was able to rest easy speaking to Penelope. Thus, she waved her hand across the area to summon a sheet of light cast across the sky. Penelope stepped back as it changed color and form to match what Clari aimed to depict, showing a spider's web of boxes, some bigger than others, with a list of ideas directly linked to them.

"I'll tell you what I do know. They lead to a realm that you're not supposed to be able to go to. It breaks through what is essentially a faulty line of code caused by too many things to feasibly repair it. In coding terms, it bypasses a check that makes sure that you're staying in your current realm. Once that's passed, you basically have a one-way ticket in between realms, but you'd have to bypass the check again to get back. The only reason we found this breach is because of the existence of an entity that most people just call Error. He's a massive pain in the neck." Penelope's eyes widened as she made a realization of her brother's friend, and her brows furrowed, trying to remember if that was the exact name.

"Wait. I think I saw him in our apartment," she mumbled, "He said he was working with John to, and I'm paraphrasing this, 'find somebody specific', and that, once they're finished, he'll 'relocate' us? Somehow?" Penelope watched as Clari glanced away and crossed her arms, clenching her fists as she did so.

"Seems like something he'd say. Not because he wants to help you all necessarily, but because he wants to lure somebody in to get rid of them for good." The screen previously static then zoomed into the center of the spiderweb pattern to show a circle with no label. She pointed to it and made sure Penelope was paying attention.

"This," she began, causing intrigue and yet more confusion, "is where the center of our multiverse essentially stems from. Everything comes from this original area, being maintained by another entity, Irelkian, but everybody calls him 'Ink' for obvious reasons. In my social circle, we call him 'Shed' as an inside joke." Her short chuckle after stating this as if it were fully serious was enough to cause whiplash in Penelope.

"Anyways. He's the protector of our realm. Once he's gone, there's not much we can do to stop him. Usually, this would be countered fairly easily by the fact that he doesn't normally have a soul. However, it has come to my attention that, around two weeks ago, he reappeared from a long time of being just _gone_ , saying that some sick God decided that it would be best to give him one, and that complicates things. Error's skillset revolves around people having souls. If they don't have one, they're mostly immune to what he can do to them. I say 'mostly' because he can just shoot you with lasers. That aside, the main problem this causes is the fact that Ink having a soul now allows him to take control of him, and the prospect of that is terrifying to literally everybody except for him."

"He can't be _that_ nonchalant about it, can he?"

"He has the self-preservation of a man that has seen God and was not impressed. I'm not surprised that he was excited because now it would be a challenge to avoid Error in the first place. But that's why he wants to lure somebody in. Despite how easy it sounds, he does this by disrupting the multiverse on a fundamental level and by destroying things in general, including spines. Honestly, I'm surprised he hasn't chucked somebody into a volcano yet."

"So, he has my brother helping him cause destruction?"

"And I guess he blamed it on you, because everybody pretty much universally hates you. If somebody doesn't at this point, either you should run, or they saw through your brother's bullshit. You're a good kid. He just decided to be a prick." Penelope folded her arms inwards and scratched her elbow.

"So, this is my brother's fault."

"If you want to look at it that way."

After hearing that statement, Penelope nodded, took Clari's jacket off, and pulled out the switch.

"Then I'm going to go fix this," she said, going to press the button. However, her arm was halted by Clari using the aether to prevent her from moving downwards.

"It's fine. It'll fix itself," Clari tried to tell her, but Penelope shook her head.

"I know, but if nobody else is going to do it, then I'll do whatever I can to make sure it's okay." Taken aback, Clari released her arm, but she didn't depress the button yet. Instead, Clari was able to give her the jacker back and crouch to her height.

"Fine. Let me at least give you my cell number in case something goes wrong," she told her, giving her a slip of paper with a quickly scrawled out phone number, "If you see somebody with red hair who's going through her fifteenth emo phase, show her the jacket and tell her that Cappu sent you. Don't ask. Just do it, okay?"

Penelope nodded, smiled, took hold of the blue jacket, and pressed the button, disappearing in a flash of light.

Clari prayed only that she survived.


	3. Natural Hunter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A disturbing coincidence stares Penelope in the face, and the victim of said issue down her back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it has come to my attention that I have COVID-19, so I am not performing at my peak potential.

Penelope reappeared in her bedroom, swiftly removing Clari's jacket from her shoulders, only to equip it underneath her own hoodie. The window left open had given her room a chilly temperature that wasn't easily staved off, but she managed because of the tight layers. However, knowing that what lay ahead may be a challenge, she searched her room for anything vaguely helpful to her cause, finding a canister of pepper spray and a taser, for some reason. She decided that the taser would be more suited for self-defense, and stuffed it into her pocket for safe keeping. Despite her confusion with the device, she exchanged the button that she previously held for one of similar size, but different design. Whereas the one leading to Clari's home held a frost-like pattern, which was previously not there, the one she traded it for was empty, as if it hadn't been marked yet. And as she glanced at the rest, this lack of pattern was shared across all of the others, giving her a shiver that the cold hadn't pierced her enough for.

The distraction proved effective, as she nearly forgot her cell phone and Clari's phone number on her mattress. She swiftly grabbed the device and entered the number into her contacts before tucking the device into her pocket and placing the new one in her right hand. Knowing to brace herself, and possibly close her eyes due to the snow, she prepared herself physically as she pressed the switch, and felt every inch of her body fold in on itself.

Even with that strange feeling, she managed to inch open her right eye to make sure not to blind herself in her left. However, she soon realized that she needn't worry about snow for a while, as the trails that lay in front and behind her seemed to be free of it for a while. The one ahead of her went downwards in a corkscrew spiral around the mountain that she was nearly at the peak of, but an item dropped down at her from above. She glanced at what looked like a cell phone, and looked up to find the source. An abandoned pack's opening flapped down towards her, its contents seeking to spill out gleefully, but she climbed up towards it using the rough edges of the mountain, and looked inside of it to see what else was there. Along side a few packs of trail mix, she found rope, a folded tent, a few spikes to pitch the tent, and a battery pack, which she connected the phone to in order to give it some charge before investigating the remaining upwards climb.

The peak was somewhat flat, and she soon discovered an interesting specimen of a man on the interior of the cavern, sitting hopelessly, face upwards with his eyes closed. He seemed at peace, but she had the audacity to tie the rope to one of the spikes to prepare for an escape mission. After the knot was sufficiently tight, she impaled the spike into the rock and prayed that it would be secure before tossing the other end of the rope down, successfully hitting him in the face. Penelope stared down at him as he panicked below her, and he glanced up at her with a glare in his eyes and stood.

"What the hell was that?" he asked, earning nothing but confusion from Penelope as she made a face at him. He crossed his arms up at Penelope as she shook the rope in front of hid face, causing it to brush over his nose.

"What do you mean? Do you want out of there or no?!" she asked, which caused him to roll his eyes and pinch the bridge of his nose.

"I do, but you could have, I don't know, made a noise to get my attention first." With that, he tightly gripped the rope before using it as a balance to scale the interior of the volcano. His shoes seemed unfit for the situation, but that gave him no issues as he continued upwards, paying no heed to the identity of his savior for the time being. Penelope, despite being mostly ignored, called Clari in a panic to get her take on the situation, not paying attention to the male behind her..

The blue-clad male reached the summit in record time, and rolled over to gaze upwards as Penelope's dialing tone continued, and he was surprised that she actually got service, but even more perplexed as a faintly familiar voice greeted her.

"Diga," the female called out, earning confusion from Penelope, and caused her to mutter a confused stutter, "Oh! Penelope! So this is your phone?" Penelope's expression turned sour as she remembered that she had forgotten to exchange her phone number with hers.

"Yeah, remember when you said something about Error not having thrown somebody into a volcano?" Penelope asked once she had steeled her nerves, causing a gasping reaction from the other line.

"Are you trying to tell me that he threw somebody into a volcano." Penelope went deadpan as the man behind her sighed.

"Is that Clari?" he asked, getting a silent nod from Penelope, "Put it on speakerphone." She did as requested, and put it down on speaker phone. He leaned in towards the phone and blinked a few times before speaking.

"Yeah- yeah, that was me," he stated, which, for some reason, caused Clari to scream.

"BLUEBERRY!!" she yelled, causing Blue to dart away from the device like it was on fire, "Nevin is so worried about you!! You were in a volcano?!" He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, shaking his head slightly in dismay before deciding to finish his short discussion with Clari immediately.

"Can you tell him I'm okay? I know he was probably worried sick, but I need to get back home and all of that, you know." Without even giving her a chance to reply, he hung up the call and stood to his feet. Penelope glanced at him and echoed his action, noting that he was about her height, being slightly shorter. He ruffled his own hair, causing ashes to scatter from it and more easily reveal its natural sandy shade, but he quickly began moving towards his pack and down the trail. His head turned to face her expectantly, and she followed him as he trailed down the spiraling path.

From the trees came a shadow, distracting Penelope as it gave chase to another shadow, but it had no shape of a bird. Confused, she spun, ready to face it, but rooted to her spot in her fear. Blue saw this and rolled his eyes.

"It's probably just a scavenger. Come on," he told her, getting Penelope to leave the man's cover concealed.  
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Blueberry walked through the unmarked forest, buckler strapped to his right arm, a flashlight in his left, and Penelope followed closely behind, her arms folded towards her chest, and eyes flicking around the forest at the different sounds and sensations. As she stepped on a stick, she jumped and widened her eyes, causing Blue to look back at her with a disappointed look in his eye. She recovered, and looked at him as he continued on the memorized path to the house.

Despite his glancing at her several times, he gave her an odd feeling of discomfort and distrust, compounded by the clenched fist he held behind his buckler's protection. Once taking note of this, she reached into her own pocked to grasp at the taser that was held within. Suddenly, she was roughly pushed to the ground, Blue's torch flying to his side as the object in his left hand was replaced by the silver longsword pointed at her neck. His face went from unimpressed to untrusting as he advanced his blade towards her jugular.

"Uhh..." she began, backing up on the ground, slipping due to the limited, and somewhat gross, movement the muddied path gave her. Blue's glare grew narrow, then, suddenly, subsided. He sighed and closed his eyes before dropping the pointed blade and sheathing it amongst his belt. Without much debate, he picked up the flashlight and knelt down to Penelope.

"I'm sorry. You're not your brother," he told her before standing up to his full height and offering his hand to the prone female before her. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish struggling to breathe, and she decided that this scenario was best left to the limited memory retention that she had. With slightly muddied fingers, she grabbed his gloved hand. Surprisingly, that was what made him flinch, though he pulled her to her feet all the same, and turned to continue leading her, even as a distant growl plagued her with worry.

"You heard that, right?" she asked, earning a shrug from Blue as he nonchalantly twirled his flashlight around in his hand.

"It's probably just a grizzly, y'know. They're pretty common around this part of the forest," he informed her, only to have to console her immediately afterwards, "Bear attacks are unlikely and incredibly rare. Calm down. Besides, if it does actually attack us, I'll just punt it." The confusion that wracked her when he smirked at her, but she stuttered a bit before finishing her thought.

"You're going to punt a fucking bear?" Blueberry spun and shrugged.

"Honey, I've fought worse, I've done it before-"

"How am I supposed to respond to you having kicked a grizzly bear?"

"Know that I don't fear god. That's all," he finished, spinning around to continue their trek through the forest. Penelope could only sigh and go along with what he was saying, and the jarring change in tone. The blade had made a small nick at the base of her neck, and it stung a bit while not bleeding at all, but it was annoying as hell.

Eventually, the cover of the leaves parted, and they were finally able to join with society again. Blueberry looked at the town he called home and skipped gleefully towards who Penelope assumed was his brother, as he hugged and spun them around like mad before glancing at Penelope with a slight smile on his face. They backed away towards the remaining town as Penelope pressed the switch with her once more to return home.  
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"What were you even doing up there at that time of night?!" Peyton shouted as Blue continued cooking whatever he had decided to make that night, "We were worried sick! You were up there long enough we thought you died of thirst or something!!" Cerulean rolled his eyes as he grabbed a spoon from the drawer beside him to stir the contents of the pot he was watching.

"I was showing him around, Stretch. It's my responsibility as park ranger anyways. Besides, we're only stationed here for a couple more weeks, so I may as well try to enjoy myself while I can!" he argued, earning a somewhat aggressive shout of stress from across the room, "What was I going to do?! If I refused a guest on an arbitrary reason, my cover would be blown!"

"Yeah, but you knew not to trust him! I told you to never do something like that several years ago!" Cerulean groaned and spun his head around to look his brother in the eye as he tapped his wooden spoon against the pot.

"How was I supposed to know that he would literally chuck me into the volcano?!" He trudged towards Peyton with a glare in his eye, and he returned the same ire knowing fully well that they'd get over it over dinner, but that still wasn't enough to stop the noise of a shotgun being cocked.

Both heads turned towards the source, only to find Sawyer standing, unimpressed and stressed, shotgun in his hands. His hood was down, his gloves were already off, and he had a small smirk on his face as Cerulean began smirking at him

"...Sawyer, I swear to god."

"It's not loaded," he replied as Cerulean walked towards him.

"I know." He swung the black-clad male around as they reunited, and Stretch sat and smiled at the table at his brother's renewed happiness for the time being, taking solace in the fact that, finally, Sawyer could see that he was fine for himself. The male held Cerulean's hand in his own, even as his cell phone rang at the charger in the kitchen, playing a midi beat from a video game's main theme. He picked it up to hear Clari panicking on the other line.

"What's up?" he asked, which gave him a response he was both confused by and afraid of, "Wait, what? Hold on, don't hang up-! Damn it!!" He trudged to the table to seek Sawyer's gentle rubs.

"You know John's sister that he talked about so much? Yeah, Erica's trying to kill her."


	4. Of Fury and Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After fighting her way through indecision (and a few members of a mafia), Penelope finds herself in heated conflict with a two new foes; her own fears and a fiery temper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are mentions of guns and needles in the chapter.

Penelope sighed and leaned against the wall next to her bed as the adrenaline dissipated from her veins, and she could finally take some time to process what had just happened. She found a man, somewhat tan, somewhat short, having been thrown into a volcano, and proceeded to threaten her before, for whatever reason, letting her live. The look on her face was strained at best, and just confused at worst. Despite that, she still grabbed her blanket for support as she continued thinking about her next step in this world. Maybe a break would be the best option, but she was running out of moonlight to run on. The night owl that was inside of her begged for one more adventure into the fray, and she decided to oblige, pushing herself out of bed and taking the switch out of her pocket. 

The blank areas around the red button had changed while she hadn't paid attention, turning into an array of different weapons, mostly a decorative arrangement of rapiers and other swords. It was pleasing to her eye, but the curiosity that the empty array gave her was much more enticing, since she could possibly even predict the kind of markings that it would have. Even with that, it took her a while, after hesitating on Clari's mumblings the other night. A red-haired woman in another emo phase may attack her. Apt description, but not really the most helpful when she was trying to not die.

She glanced over at the sash and took a moment to think about her next actions. Should she really be jumping into yet another one this early, or should she take some form of break, like grabbing something to eat before she heads into the fray? Even with that thought in the back of her mind, she rationalized her position, stating in a hushed mumble that she was already this far in, so there was no use in turning back. Yet, she still turned around to grab her taser from beside the bed, as it had fallen out when she was pressing her knees against her chest.

With her taser at the ready and the second switch sliding back into its place, she drew the third one out and said a sayonara to her home with a playful salute.

Only to be thrown into another city almost immediately, her dip backwards onto her bed suddenly bringing the back of her head to the grounds of the concrete jungle.

The alleyway that she had landed in was near the exit to a highway, which was interesting, but she still glanced around the area with a confused eye. The shops around her seemed to cater to a Latin-American palate, having what seemed to her like different pastries and restaurants themed around countries like Guatemala and Spain. The one that she was next to smelled like heaven, and was simply called "Paella" as opposed to the somewhat more creative names of the surrounding shops, but she was interested nonetheless. Even with her lack of money, she took some sort of joy in looking into the store itself and seeing others enjoying themselves over cocktails (even though it seemed to be around noon) and various Latin-American inspired dishes, more than likely several tapas.

She stepped away from the window, since her stomach was starting to grumble, and onto the sidewalk to join the rest of the crowd in the area, which was also predominantly Latin-American, with some people holding shopping bags and others just chatting while making their way down the street. Penelope began walking towards the exit and to the edge of the town to get a better view of what she was getting herself into here, but she felt eyes on the back of her neck. A quick 90 degree turn of her head to peer over her shoulder showed nothing out of the ordinary, but she was still on high alert, shoving her hands into her pockets to fish for her taser, increasing her pace as she did do.

Even with her hunched over appearance and lack of visible valuable items on her person, she was still targeted by a hand reaching out of one of the alleys, right in front of somebody else, and was pulled from her saunter and slammed against the wall. A switchblade made its way towards her jugular as the bystander just walked past the alley, and the horror on her face became obvious. This was normal, and the people in this city weren't even giving her a chance, so she decided to do it on her own.

"...Hi," she greeted politely, only for her gesture to be thrown in her face with a hostile growl from her attacker, "Great to know you aren't nice. I don't have any money if that's what you're looking for." They gave her a glare as her face went from anxious to deadpan, and they motioned towards the end of the alley, where what looked like a whole-ass mafia was standing to their side. Since her hand was free, she pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head to simulate disbelief, masking her fear as she was forced to teach herself years ago.

"A little birdie told me you'd be coming down these parts. We ain't letting you hurt anyone," they told her, earning a shrug from Penelope, trying her best to maintain the façade of bravery.

"If you're talking about John, he's just being a cheeky bitch," she told them, weakening their grasp on her shoulders a considerable amount, "Really, he's just trying to not die. I respect it, but I don't have anything on me that can kill anyone. Except for maybe like my bones, but with the amount of muscle I have, best I could give someone is a light bruise." Her shoulders were released, and she began walking away.

"Besides, why would I kill any of you?" With that, the assailant went back towards the rest of the group, leaving Penelope to sprint away as fast as she could, blowing by the mid-evening crowd more quickly than she had expected of her scrawny little legs, drawing the attention of people in the crowd, who seemed to be used to this sort of development, as they just dodged out of the way of her dashing form. However, she glanced behind her, only to see a familiar form charging her way with a blade clutched in their hand. Penelope froze for a split second before finally taking hold of her taser to strike the assailant with it. As they dropped to the ground, screaming and convulsing, she turned back around to flee from the approaching mob of suit-clad men. One of them reached into a sleeve before she lost line of sight, and she jumped off of the railing of the bridge and into the cover of the forest below.

"Erica, do you copy?" the fire-haired woman on the other end of the line heard, earning a jolt and a shake at the end of her cigarette holder, causing ashes to fall to the snow-dusted ground of her stomping grounds. She quickly regained her composure and pressed the button on the back of her ear to connect with the speaker.

"I got you, 10-4, Papi," she replied, using his code name over the line, since he sounded a bit more urgent than usual. She heard a stick crack in the background as his breathing increased in pace, and she asked a low "Hello?" to make sure he was alright. She soon got a huff in response, and she glanced around her position to see a dark figure dashing through the tree line.

"We've got a straggler running your way. She's that, uh, Pen-something person the Hutson told us about." She grit her teeth, releasing the cigarette from its holder and incinerating between her fingers before leaving the ashes behind in a small pile, keeping a point consistent with her heavy footsteps from her platform heels, "We lost 'em, but they're heading your way." Pressing the button two consecutive times in order to signal that she was taking the miniature mission, she took the wire out of her ear and put it in a small pocket with a button. She brought out a silver pistol, loaded with several shells, and put in ear plugs to keep the noise from damaging her ears further than they were already messed up. She saw a moving point in the distance, and narrowed her eyes to focus on the figure, finger steady on the trigger and thumb pressed firmly in order to maintain a good grip.

Penelope leapt over the carcass of a dead tree and moved further into the woods before feeling a sharp pain in her right shoulder, consistent with how her brother described a gunshot wound, along with the signature loud pop that came with the firing of said firearm. The wound caused a familiar irony smell to enter her nostrils, but she grasped her arm, refusing to make another sound, and moved to behind another tree. Erica made her presence known with the crunching of snow beneath her feet and the cocking of the gun in her hand, alerting Penelope to her new foe. She dashed through the trees to try and confuse her perception of her, and it worked, causing the bullet to whizz by her head and into a tree further into the woods. Penelope raised her right shoulder and put pressure on the wound to attempt to slow the bleeding, but the urgency of the situation told her that she couldn't stay immobile for much longer. The click of the hammer of the pistol scared her, and the crunching of snow behind her gave Erica's position away immediately, so Penelope ducked. Somehow, the bullet that Erica had fired afterwards flew through the tree, embedding itself in front of her on the ground.

Believing that she had caught her prey, Erica stepped forwards to the tree as Penelope took vague notice of her appearance, only seeing the white fuzz on the edges of her jacket, and thought of a way to distract her. When Erica saw that she had moved away from her spot, she looked up to see if Penelope had climbed up the tree, causing her hood to come lower, so Penelope could grab it. She then roughly pulled her down to the ground, forcing her to tumble into the snow below her. She screamed, showing her it worked, and Penelope swiftly dashed away, fumbling with the switch to see if it would work to bring her home. After it failed in its intended purpose, Erica managed to lodge another bullet into her shoulder, though blinded by the snow. The pain had already faded because of another surge of adrenaline, so all Erica could do with the remaining bullets in her magazine was fire wildly in different directions to see if she could use any echoes of screams or thuds to track her. Realizing that she should probably save her shells for the final strike, she took out her ear plugs and searched for the black-clad female she was after.

Meanwhile, Penelope ducked behind a tree and removed her damaged hoodie, ripping off the arm that had already been soaked in blood and using it to tie over the wounds that were present in her shoulder. She then stuffed the rest of it around her head and neck to, hopefully, protect the more vital parts of her body.

That couldn't stop the tree that she was sitting behind from collapsing to her right, the edge singed off and turning into ashes before her eyes. Her head sharply turned to see Erica wielding an axe made from flames with one hand, and a white flame in the other.

"Oh... hi," Penelope greeted, fearing for her life and trying to gather her bearings as Erica gave her a blackened smirk.

"You're fucked, buddy."

Penelope barely dodged out of the way of her next attack, sending her preserved flame flying towards her, only marginally missing her and landing to the direct left of a tree, where it quickly dissipated, saving the forest from being lit ablaze by her rage. She then sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her away from the situation, leaving a trail of footprints and being less concealed due to her change in wardrobe. Erica used this to track her location and threw her axe towards the tree she had just passed by before running after the fleeing teen, thinking she had continued towards the left. Despite that, Penelope leaned against the branch that she had made a temporary escape, having climbed at a startling rate due to her burst of adrenaline, even as it started to wane. The drastic loss of adrenaline brought her environmental awareness to a point where she hadn't even felt herself fall off of the tree until her legs suddenly became cold. The pain didn't even register as she sat up against the tree, panting as she did so, and waited for her consciousness to find a point between existing and fading.

Her last full grasp on reality before becoming delirious was the realization of a clicking pistol being pressed against her head. Erica stood several feet away as a red energy found its way around the firearm, nearly pulling the trigger as Erica smirked, Penelope barely understanding her first question, earning a delirious groan.

"Any last words?" she asked, clearly intending to kill her, but Penelope barely registered it, instead using the safe word that she assumed would work.

"Cappu... said hi," she informed her, causing Erica to hesitate.

"Excuse me, run that back by me?"

"Cappu said... hi." With that final word, Penelope collapsed into a heap, in a questionable state of living as Erica sprinted towards her to retrieve her weapon and check on her. As her firearm fell back into her hands, she unzipped the blue coat she was wearing and scoured for the tag, which gave her information linking it back to Clari, including her phone number. Her face fell as she tightened the knot that Penelope had put around her arm while using her phone to dial the Latina's cell number, and brought it to her ear with the psychic ability from before so that she could focus on the wound. She knew it would barely have to ring, and she smiled as she answered the call.

"Hello, mi cempasuchil!" she cooed, causing a momentary flushing of Erica's face, but she soon interrupted her greetings to give her the news.

"Hi Cappu! You know Penelope? The human that John was telling us about?" Clari went silent on the other line, suddenly hanging up and appearing at her side.

"What did you do- AY, DIOS MIO! ERICA!" Not particularly phased by this change in attitude from the female beside her as she continued to scream in Spanish beside her.

"Can you just call Cerulean to help us get her back to the house," she groaned as Clari obliged, not even taking a break in her screaming until Cerulean's number had been dialed. She remained silent while the tone blared in her ear and Erica slowly became more panicked and focused on Penelope's state of living. Clari's voice faded into the background as she devolved into shaking while pressing down on the torn of jacket sleeve that was tied around her shoulder.

"Erica, I swear to- oh, it's over already," Cerulean grumbled as he shook his head and knelt down beside Penelope, "I'll take care of her, just get your posse to get a cot ready for her." With that, Erica backed away from the unconscious body and allowed Cerulean to tend to her. His first course of action was to feel for a pulse to make sure that she was able to even be saved, and Erica re-equipped her wire tap to contact Papi. As she mumbled into her microphone, somewhat annoyed with the speaker's persistence that they couldn't do anything, Cerulean picked up Penelope's body and slung her over his shoulders.

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Penelope finally opened her eyes, finding her shoulder bare other than the wrappings of gauze around it, and that she was sat in a cot in some form of medical bay. Her hands scrunched up, taking note of the thin blanket she lay under, and helped her attempt to sit up from her confusing situation. However, she was quickly stopped by Erica putting a hand up to her face with an eyebrow raised.

"Hon, not yet." she told Penelope, who was still afraid of the new environment, "I know you just woke up an' all, but you gotta wait, y'know? Be a little patient. If you have to, and I know that feeling, needing to find out what's going on, be more slow about it, aight?" She then gave a small smile to the quivering female before her and went over to the other part of the room. As Penelope used the bed to sit herself up, she found Blue sitting next to her cot, playing on his phone with an earbud in one ear. She didn't dare disturb his somewhat peaceful expression, and instead looked around the room to absorb her surroundings more.

Clari sat in a chair, being attended to by a nurse, who held a small syringe against her arm. Erica sat next to the Latina as she drew in a deep breath and allowed the nurse to administer the medicine into her arm. Penelope somehow managed to work up the will to look away from the needle point, and instead focused on Blue, who had glanced up at her with a somewhat drawn out expression.

"You good? You - uh - look a little pale," he mused, standing up when Penelope's expression became one of worry, "Talk to me." His demanding tone of voice scared her a bit, causing her to lurch forwards a bit as he scooted forwards in his chair, enough to maybe even touch her arm. However, he stayed away from her enough that their skin never touched. She looked over to Clari, who, at this point, was almost done with her injection, and was being quietly praised by Erica, and darted back to Blue. The look of understanding in his eyes was complimented by a nod, and he smiled patiently at her. Penelope moved her arm to cover up her elbow, only noticing then that there was a tube with saline solution flowing into her arm, and swiftly regretted her decision to move the arm.

"She can't swallow pills, so she has to take a lot of her meds by needle. It may not be the most fun experience in the world, but it's necessary at this point. If she wants to talk about it, she'll tell you, but that's the long and short of it." Penelope looked back at the female, who looked relieved, and smiled when she kissed Erica's forehead and stood up, her injection site being covered by a band-aid. She took the fire-haired woman's hand into her own and walked over to Penelope's cot, worried about her, but still patient enough to have Erica take her time walking over. Blueberry stood up to offer his assistance to the stumbling female, who kindly refused it.

"Do you feel alright, dear?" she asked, stretching out her other hand to grasp at the pale one of the girl before her. Though cold, Penelope accepted the hand before her, and shivered slightly at the temperature before giving her a half-hearted smile. Erica shoved her other hand into her pocket in order to give herself something to fiddle with, and Clari squeezed the hand she held to give her some reassurance. Erica smiled gently at Clari for a moment before scratching at her neck.

"Well, we're probably going to have a witchdoctor come by and speed up the healing process," Blueberry mentioned, spooking Penelope.

"I'm sorry, a witchdoctor? What is this, the Bubonic Plague?" she asked him, the only response he could give being an annoyed sigh. Clari chuckled a little bit as Erica opened her mouth to explain.

"Well, that's the best way to describe 'em without explaining the magic part of it - you'd panic before the Benadryl could kick in and demand an explanation - so we say that they're a witchdoctor just to speed up the process. Though, I think you've seen Blue materialize a blade and me literally make an axe made of fire, so I think the magic part of all this is the least of your questions."

"You can just call me Cerulean, y'know," the male beside them interjected, giving Penelope yet another piece of information to digest, but that was only the segue into the panic induced by the doctor walking back into the room with a large needle-esque object.

"That's the Benadryl. We're gonna be here for a bit before it kicks in, but it'll hurt going in, so we're here for moral support." Erica gave her a sided smile and sat down, Clari putting her head on the pyromancer's shoulder. The obsidian mop that draped from her head got a little bit messy on Erica's leather jacket, but the playful glint in her eye clued in that it was on purpose. The look was returned by the other female, causing both female's brown eyes to gaze into one another's.

Penelope turned her head to her left, giving her a chance to look at the tanned Cerulean, who looked somewhat bored and miffed at the same time. His namesake aqua eyes drilled into his cellular device, giving her a slight bit of curiosity. However, it was waned when he lifted it up and placed a hand on his head to scrunch up his dirty blonde mass of hair before giving a shy smirk and taking a photo. To whom it was sent, she had no idea, and she didn't care to ask as she suddenly winced from the pain of the medication previously noted being placed into the IV machine. Immediately, Erica leaned forwards and gave her a hand to squeeze, and she accepted, the calming warmth giving a contrast to the coldness of the saline and drugs. She turned back to face the women, who both gave their own brand of hopeful faces. 

Erica's milk-pale skin contrasted from her deep black and red attire, with her black leather jacket being front and a flowy red shirt being center. Clari had turned to lay on top of her thighs, which were covered by black jeans, and sprawled on top of her, a somewhat darker skin tone displayed over her entire body. Her whites and blues contrasted greatly with Erica's palette, but shared a similarly black-cloaked pair of legs. The sky-shaded shawl she wore had come off of part of her arms, revealing that she was, in fact, wearing a long-sleeved and patterned shirt.

The pain soon waned completely, and the nurse walked away, their job having finished, and she felt a wave of tiredness overcome her as the medicine finally began taking its toll. Her head swung to glance at Cerulean, who was still smiling at his phone, and only felt Erica's warmth slip away, having said something about smoke. The muted silvers, grays, and blues of Cerulean's clothing had barely even registered to her before she felt her feet go numb. Clari stood to go upstairs, and Cerulean came soon after seeing Penelope's breathing slow and her eyes close to give her a release of sleep.


End file.
